Question:

Patch on chest missing feathers?

Our new, 6 week old hand fed parakeet has a place on his chest with no feathers and it looks like it may be a lump… is this normal? Anything we can do? Thanks

Answer:

Hi Lynn,

Congratulations on your new parakeet! I’m pretty sure you are just seeing his crop. This is where food is stored for the first part of digestion. It is larger in baby birds and more visible. And in a hand fed bird, it tends to be more visible because we usually feed more at a time than the parent birds would so it gets stretched. I would recommend doing a Google image search for baby parakeet crop and see if those images look like what you are seeing. If you are still alarmed, I would take him back to the breeder or to an Avian Vet to be sure he is healthy.